Sure, I haven’t been able to really experience everything, the whole crippled walking bit and all. But, I have had the most mouth-watering, fabulously divine, beyond amazing food. Oh, and I am finally warm again! AND the amount of happy people that are surrounding me is just mind blowing.
I stepped off the airplane at 4 am (Thai time) and in walking through the immigration desks, I step up to the attendant and get this, he not only looks me in the eye, but he SMILES and welcomes me to Thailand. When I write that out it seems that a sarcastic point should be made that, of course he said that, he is paid to do that. But it’s more than that. Attendants, shopkeepers, hotel staff, traffic guards, nurses, and even random tourists are smiling at me. The groups of people walking around in the mall are smiling and talking with each other. If I smile in public nobody is looking at me like I am insane. I love it! I get to smile at the people I pass by in the streets, and I get to say thank you. When people are curious about why I am walking around on crutches, they come up to me and inquire, and then they wish me to get better. Even so far as when I went to the street market a shop keeper came up and was really worried that I had injured myself in Thailand and that if that was the case, he was terribly sorry. One of my more recent favorite incidents is this, my glasses overheated again (and while that is epic, it isn’t even the main plot!) so they stretched out and kept sliding down my face. So I go to the mall, see an eyeglass store and walk in. I ask if they could fix them, and how much it would cost. The doctor, not even the sales lady, comes up to me and replies “Of course we can fix those for you. And no charge.” You can hardly expect that awesome of customer service in the States.
I love Thailand!
And the food. Oh, the food. My extensive vocabulary fails me on this. All the street food- Pad Thai, curries, random meat/seafood on skewers, fruit, fruit, and more fruit. Restaurant food- crepes with roasted tomatoes, onions, olives and feta cheese, Indian red chicken curry with naan (officially favorite food ever!), Mexican quesadillas with guacamole (and this one came with a flirty, hot waiter who wanted to go clubbing with me), real club sandwiches, and for a tie for the best aspect: not a single potato in sight and everything comes with veggies! Oh, vitamins! Including the vitamin D courtesy of the sunshine! I know, back in the day this 32 degree weather with humidity out the wazoo would have driven me bonkers. Right now, I love it. It doesn’t even faze me. Granted, it’s going to bite (probably literally) when I go back to Ukraine winter, but so worth it! And hey, I have been watching the weather for Ukraine so I am trying to at least mentally prepare- this week it’s supposed to get up to a whopping 1 degree Celsius (ITS IN THE POSITIVE!!! WOOT!!)
Oh yeah, surgery went well. They found more Plica fiber and some soft, squishy cartilage. Ugh. Lots of physical therapy set up, learning how to re-walk, and figure out this whole balance concept. I have three new future scars, but they are tiny and I am not complaining. Crutches for now, but I do get to put weight on my knee, just not all my weight all the time. I meet with the docs on Monday and Tuesday and hopefully by then I will know officially how long I will be in Thailand. Or at least get a guestimate. So a shout out thanks to all the family friends and Daddy friends in Thailand that have been taking care of me and making sure that I am ok. And a shout out thanks to everybody who has been thinking about me and sending prayers!
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